


Seal Skin

by geniusphilester (gorgeousnerd)



Series: PFF Bingo 2019 [1]
Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: 2009 Era (Phandom), Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Depression, M/M, Selkies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-30
Updated: 2019-09-30
Packaged: 2020-11-08 14:22:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20836928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gorgeousnerd/pseuds/geniusphilester
Summary: It was dramatic to be sitting naked on a freezing beach, even for Dan, but whatever. It wasn't like there was anyone around.





	Seal Skin

**Author's Note:**

> For my free space on my bingo square - I wanted to use the "animal transformation" square that was in a different row, so I moved it here.
> 
> There's some references to attempted suicide and accompanying depressive thinking here.

Dan was eighteen, it was autumn, and his life felt like it was already over.

It didn't help that his parents had made him tag along to a mini holiday to the Isle of Man, which was probably lovely in nice weather, but it was grey and gloomy, and the wind was bitingly cold. He'd gone for a walk by himself, and even though it was midday, the sun was barely visible through the shield of clouds overhead. Exactly the kind of place to be the brooding teenager his parents accused him of being.  
He sat on a patch of beach and poked at the sand. He unbuttoned his jacket.

Dan had thought being into his gap year and preparing for uni would be better than school had been. And maybe it was a little - the constant physical harassment was gone, at least - but working retail while everyone else got to be who they were in their uni towns was soul-killing. He lived in grey all the time, to the point where it was almost comforting to see it everywhere around him on the Isle of Man.

He slid his jacket off. He could tell the wind was there, winced at the pain of the cold, but he couldn't feel it. Not really.

Dan stared at the grey water beyond, the turbulent waves the only indication that it wasn't an extension of the sky above. If he hadn't tried dying already...well, it would look awfully appealing, here by himself. It wouldn't be quick, and drowning was supposed to be awful, but it would be over. No one would know where to look for him. Would they even try?

He had no urge to go in the water, but he shucked his shirt and shoes like he might change his mind at any moment. Kind of silly, since the shoes would weigh him down, but he didn't actually want to die. Sometimes, that thought bothered him. Not on a major level. It was kind of like a sunburn that didn't give you major heat exhaustion: hard to ignore, not really that bad. He was too much of a coward to fight back against those that would hurt him, and he was too much of a coward to end it all when just existing day-to-day hurt. Just being who he was hurt.

Dan pulled at his jeans. They were skinny and a pain in the arse to take off, but he did it enough that he managed. It was dramatic to be sitting naked on a freezing beach, even for him, but whatever. It wasn't like there was anyone around.

"You look cold."

Dan looked up, blinking against the wind.

Like Dan's thoughts had summoned him, a naked man stood above Dan. His build was similar to Dan's, and he looked around the same age, maybe a little older. His blue eyes were the only spot of real colour in the place.

...and okay, Dan wasn't blind, the guy was hung, but he carefully kept his gaze up.

"'M okay." Dan's jaw chattered.

The man didn't call him on his lie. Instead, he crouched by Dan and pulled some kind of cloth close.

"Can I?" the man asked. His accent was Northern.

Dan nodded without thinking too hard about it, and the man carefully wrapped the cloth around Dan.

Except it wasn't cloth. It was...a pelt of some kind? It didn't feel like anything Dan had ever felt before, but the second it was wrapped around Dan, he was warmer than he'd ever been.

He looked at the man with a quiet gasp.

"You're not human, are you?" Dan asked.

The man laughed. He had a nice smile. "I am right now. Do you feel better?"

Against all odds, Dan did. He got to his feet, and the pelt or whatever clung to him almost like it fit. Like it did fit.

"You wanna borrow my clothes?" he asked, nodding down at the sandy pile below.

"Sure."

It was probably ridiculous, that Dan was using whatever gave the stranger warmth, and the stranger took his clothes, but it didn't feel that way at all. It felt extremely right, like he was being seen who he was for the first time, and maybe that Dan was seeing the stranger back.

"I'm Dan," he said, when the man was dressed and was using his fingers to comb his hair into something that looked like emo fringe. Dan would have sworn, when the man first appeared, that he had more hair. But it became sleek and looked like what Dan wanted his to be.

"Phil." Who knew partially-human creatures had names like people? "I was going to visit my mum for a cuppa. She lives here. Do you want to come?"

Well, that explained the name, the accent...probably that Phil spoke English at all. "Oh. Does your mum entertain nearly-nude strangers much?"

Phil laughed. "You're not nude. You're wearing my seal skin."

"Seal..." That sounded familiar. Like some kind of myth Dan had heard. "Don't you want it?"

"It suits you much better." Phil's eyes were warm. "What do you say?"

Dan shrugged. "Does your mum make coffee? I'm more of a coffee person."

"I bought her a coffee maker. So yes."

Phil wrapped an arm around Dan's shoulders as they left the beach, and that felt right, too. Dan could see the greens and yellows of the plant life on the hills surrounding, could see the sun brightening through a thinner patch of clouds.

He had somewhere to go, somewhere new and unexpected.

And he wasn't alone.

**Author's Note:**

> [Tumblr post!](https://geniusphilester.tumblr.com/post/188053054576/seal-skin-936-words-by-geniusphilester-chapters)


End file.
